Dementia

Interwoven Histories – Hamari Yaadain group design flags for their roots, culture & identity

We are pleased to share that Carol Sorhaindo ran another fantastic community workshop with Touchstone’s Hamari Yaadain Dementia Café members. This time, Carol used the resilient buddleja plant as inspiration to think about our roots, migration and what gives us strength in difficult or uncertain times. The buddleja plant, which is common in Britain and Asia is known for its ability to thrive and adapt to many different climates, and has unusually long, tough

2020-04-17T10:51:15+01:0027th November 2017|Art, Blog, Celebrating Age, Dementia|

Interwoven Histories – A new creative project for older BME people in Leeds!

This year, Touchstone has partnered with visual arts organisation, Pavilion to deliver “Interwoven Histories” – a  project which aims to engage older people from BME communities in creative arts workshops. Wednesday 18th October marked the first workshop of our exciting new programme, when Carol Sorhaindo introduced the Hamari Yaadain Dementia Café members to the use of saffron dyes and block painting. It is well known that saffron is the most

2020-04-17T10:47:09+01:0028th October 2017|Art, Blog, Celebrating Age, Dementia|

Celebration event for the International Day of Older People at Leeds City Museum

To celebrate the International Day of Older People on Sunday the 1st of October, Leeds City Museum curated a wonderful display of thousands of forget-me-not flowers which had been created by community groups around Leeds. As a symbol of memory and love, the forget-me-not flower was chosen to raise awareness of Dementia, and as you may recognise this is also the symbol for the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends. This years

2020-04-17T10:46:44+01:0018th October 2017|Art, Blog, Dementia|

Dementia journey with my mother – #DementiaAwarenessWeek

Stephanie Lewis from Touchstone's Community Development Service talks about how her mother's dementia impacted on the whole family. I first became aware of Dementia when I studied for counselling back in 2000-2008 however, my first personal experience of this was when my mother was diagnosed in 2005. My father passed away in 1998 and they had been married for nearly 50 years so clearly, they were very close as a

2020-04-17T10:28:28+01:0021st May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week, Families|

Being a Dementia Champion – #DementiaAwarenessWeek

Geraldine, from Touchstone's IAPT team, talks about the role of a Dementia Champion. My name is Geraldine and I am one of the Dementia Champions with Touchstone. I work in the Touchstone IAPT service where we meet people with common problems with mood and mental health such as anxiety and depression and offer a range of treatments including classes, online treatment and face to face therapies. The symptoms we work

2017-05-20T09:00:14+01:0020th May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week|

Afternoon tea – supporting a neighbour #DementiaAwarenessWeek

Juana Kwok from Touchstone Support Centre talks about being there for a neighbour who's husband is developing dementia. “I’ve seen you around the garden trimming your beautiful flowers.” “I tried not to disturb you.” “Ooh, please do.” “How are you?” “Yes, I am fine, thank you.” “How’s Joe…” “He’s not so good, he’s getting worse, he tends to be more forgetful, he wore his winter clothes on a warm day,

2020-04-17T10:28:26+01:0019th May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week, Friendship|

Supporting a friend through her journey as a carer – Dementia Awareness Week #DementiaAwarenessWeek

Amina Ditta from the Peer-Led Brokerage Service and Kirklees Advocacy Service talks about sharing knowledge and support when dementia affects a friend's family. After attending an event which delivered the Dementia Awareness session it became very clear to me how this disease carries many misconceptions. I pursued this further by becoming a Dementia Champion. Around the time of this training, my friend Kelly learnt that her mum was presenting “strange

2020-04-17T10:28:24+01:0018th May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week, Families, Friendship|

Dementia and its impact on a family member – Dementia Awareness Week #DementiaAwarenessWeek

Joe Shortland from Touchstone's Community Support Team discusses the impact of dementia on his family. In 2013 my partner’s father, John, was diagnosed with both Parkinson’s disease and dementia, and sadly he passed away last month from the illness. The last several years had been a very difficult time for all the family to see such an able bodied, intelligent, and kind hearted man, and whose memory and physical health

2017-05-17T09:00:58+01:0017th May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week, Families|

Dementia journey with my relative – Dementia Awareness Week #DementiaAwarenessWeek

Continuing a series of personal reflections on the impact of dementia, Sikh Elders Service manager Chernjit Batebajwe talks about supporting a relative living with dementia.  I would like to celebrate this week with sharing my experiences with dementia. I supported my relative the age of 86 living on her own every Monday of the week. She was a great cook and came from Uganda.  Widowed at very early age she

2020-04-17T10:28:22+01:0016th May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week, Families|

My dad's diagnosis – Dementia Awareness Week #DementiaAwarenessWeek

My dad was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2007 following a stroke when he had a fall at home.  This fall was preventable as dad had just had a knee replacement so his house should have been assessed by social care and then he might have had a handrail fitted on the stairs but information on your rights to access services is just one of the things families struggle with

2020-04-17T10:28:15+01:0015th May 2017|Blog, Dementia, Dementia Awareness Week, Families|